Youth Justice

1,909 CHILDREN ARE ARRESTED EACH DAY IN THE U.S.

The number of children arrested and incarcerated has declined over the past decade, largely due to positive changes in policy and practice. However, America’s children continue to be criminalized at alarming rates and disparities have persisted. Many children—particularly children in poverty; children of color; children with disabilities; children with mental health and substance abuse challenges; children subjected to neglect, abuse, and/or other violence; children in foster care; and LGBTQ children—are pushed out of their schools and homes into the juvenile justice or adult criminal justice systems.

Even as child arrests and detentions have fallen, extreme racial disparities have persisted across the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems. Children of color, particularly Black children, continue to be overcriminalized and overrepresented at every point—from school discipline and arrest to sentencing and post-adjudication placements.

Boys, youth with disabilities, and LGBTQ youth also come into disproportionate contact with the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.

Children do not belong in prisons. Incarceration does not support the growth and development of our children; it places them at risk and limits their access to resources.

As youth crime and arrest rates continue to decline, now is the time to re-imagine youth justice. We have better choices than incarceration: diversion, treatment, after school programs, and family support programs support children, keep communities safe, and save taxpayer dollars. It is time to end the criminalization of children and provide every child time and space for learning, mistakes, and restorative support from caring adults.

 

 

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